Romania must improve legislation to reach EU recycling targets

The legislative changes targeting waste collection practices that came into effect at the beginning of the year have left most market stakeholders dissatisfied. Business Review’s Tax & Law Focus on Environment event brought together all the relevant market players, including state representatives, to see what companies and territorial units need to do in order to meet their targets according to EU rules and create a real circular economy.

By Aurel Constantin

“We are in a situation where there’s a significant lack of trust between stakeholders,” said Ionut Georgescu, Founder & CEO of Fepra Waste Division, who added that unfortunately, “there is a rather large lack of transparency in the waste recycling sector.” The waste management market had a value of EUR 200 million in 2018, according to the latest data available, Meanwhile, Environment Ministry data show that only 14 percent of the total waste produced in Romania gets recycled, far below the European average of almost 50 percent, ranking the country in the penultimate place among EU states.

Emilia Patruti, Environmental and Mineral Resources Director at Romaqua Group, said that the newly amended law has led to a situation where only manufacturers are responsible for the packaging that is produced. “As a result of the responsibility being given to producers, the law fails to also involve other market actors, such as distributors, local authorities, traders or consumers. There should be dialogue among all market players, including local authorities, to find the best solutions for the collection/recycling system.”

“The biggest problem I’m seeing is the fact that we have been trying to implement the same solutions for the past 15 years and we have had the same negative results. We must admit our failures and find real, objective solutions to solve our problems,” Ionut Georgescu added.

“The recycling sector needs investments,” said Alin Petru Teiusanu, Executive Director at Opremat. “But we still need to update the regulations; it is an area that is subject to European legislation. We have succeeded in creating rich national legislation and we’ve managed to operate within this framework. Then there’s taxation, which requires us to pay a fee when recycling waste. All this raises questions about our competitiveness,” he noted. Alin Visan, Legal & Compliance Director at Maspex Romania, argued that Romania needed better quality and higher volume recycling. “If we’re talking about packaging, targets are being met with the help of the operates according to a single European principle and that while everyone has a degree of responsibility, the manufacturer is ultimately accountable for the packaging they place on the market. “Producers have an important money the manufacturers pay. What’s not being done is diverting waste from reaching the landfill and general municipal recycling.”

Mihai Sofian, president of the Remat Holding group, explained that recyclers see things differently than producers. “We can process and recycle any type of waste, except hazardous categories. We make investments exclusively using our own money, we don’t receive any kind of help from the state, and I don’t know where the money paid by producers goes.”

Cosmin Teodoru, Director General for Waste Contaminated Sites and Hazardous Substances at the Romanian Environment Ministry, started by saying that Romania

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role and they must understand that their role is changing,” the official argued.

Mariana Olaru, Head of Waste Division at the National Environmental Protection Agency (ANPM), said that the Agency’s biggest problems stem from the inadequate selective collection of waste. “This activity is strictly the responsibility of the local authorities. If packaging is not collected separately, we will not be able to meet the targets, which are increasing every year. In 2020, there was a EURATOM decision establishing a budget at the EU level through which each state would pay, starting in 2023, based on data from 2021, a price of 0.8 euros for each kilogram of non-recycled plastic packaging. Romania now has a recycling target of 30 percent. An enormous amount will be paid for that 70 percent difference,” she argued, adding that there are counties where collection infra- generators of waste in Romania, and that the waste is sent on a traceability flow towards recycling. Additionally, a significant share of consumers turn to us for their recycling needs when they have no other adequate solution in their area, whether it’s for batteries, used oil or other materials.” structure has been built, but where the population isn’t separating any of the waste. “An awareness campaign must be carried out.”

Geanin Serban, the President of the OIREP Association, highlighted the fact that the following period will be full of challenges, especially when it comes to reaching the yearly recycling targets. According to the 249/2015 law, the targets are as follows: 60 percent of the total weight for paper and cardboard, 60 percent for glass, 50 percent for metal, 22.5 percent for plastic, 55 percent for PET, 20 percent for aluminium, and 15 percent for wood—and they’re certainly not easy tasks.

"That's why we have to communicate and seek solutions that work for all the operators in the system, otherwise we will never reach a common solution."

It would be more efficient for discussions regarding a potential legislative change to take place before a project draft is put up for public debate. If all stakeholders were to express their opinions and reach an agreement, it would be more likely for the subsequent legislative solution to satisfy everyone involved. The imposition, through Ordinance 196/2022, of a guarantee of RON 500,000 for the Environmental Fund Administration by economic operators who carry out collection, recovery, sanitation, intermediation activities, and waste reporting is not seen as a measure that will support better collection.

Emanuel Parvulescu, a representative of the Association of Large Commercial Networks in Romania, noted that everyone was partially right. “As far as traders are concerned, we can say that we are the largest

"From our point of view, waste management will always be full of obstacles. And if we’re talking about packaging waste, there is certainly still a lot of work to be done. We believe that the solution will come from an efficient dialogue and we propose changing our collective approach to this waste problem. More precisely, up to this point, each stakeholder (producers, collectors, and partner organisations) would identify certain problems in their activity and go to the central authorities, which would usually support them and try to find solutions. But even if it’s all in good faith, solving one stakeholder’s problem without consulting with the other players on the market will generate problems for those other players," Serban explained.

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"We’ve tried to take the responsibility to collectors, but it seems that it didn’t do any good. The system did not work; even if producers paid up, no one knew what happened to the waste until the very end. That's why we’ve returned to the previous version that makes producers and commercial operators responsible," Environment Ministry representative Cosmin Teodoru explained.

One way to solve issues related to the volumes of waste being reported as recycled can be SIATD, the software application that allows waste to be tracked and reports wasterelated data in real time. The SIATD application will also be used by authorised operators handling waste tires, portable batteries and accumulators, as well as electrical and electronic equipment.

There will continue to be issues with the waste management system, and not just in Romania, but in other EU countries as well. But, as Ionut Georgescu pointed out, the only way to reach a solution is to facilitate an open dialogue between all stakeholders and continue to educate citizens, as they must understand the importance of separate waste collection.